Effect of Dilute Polymer Solutions on External Boundary Layers

The paper reports an experimental study of the flow of homogeneous aqueous polyacrylamide MRL 402 solution over a thin flat plate. Extensive velocity profile data were obtained, using both cylindrical and conical hot-file probes, and used to obtain local skin friction profiles. Direct drag measurements were made over a period of time for concentrations of 0, 25, 50 and 75 wppm and indicated that there was no appreciable degradation of the polymer. Extensive turbulence intensity data were obtained which were contradictory but indicated that the conical type probe is better than the cylindrical type for turbulence measurements and that the turbulence intensity reduced as the fluid progressed along the surface. Results indicate that the form drag is reduced but that the viscous drag is not reduced unless an onset friction velocity is exceeded, which was found to be 0.074 ft/sec for the polymer used

Environmental guidelines for new and existing piggeries

These guidelines apply to the management of Western Australia piggeries in Western Australia, including intensive Growing pigs under intensive conditions where the and extensive operations, straw-based housing and animals spend their entire life cycle indoors, is an combinations of these (otherwise referred to as semi- important part of the Western Australian and intensive housing).https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1037/thumbnail.jp

On the perceptual aesthetics of interactive objects

In this paper we measured the aesthetics of interactive objects (IOs), which are three-dimensional physical artefacts that exhibit autonomous behaviour when ‎handled. The aim of the research was threefold: firstly, to investigate whether aesthetic preference for distinctive objects' structures emerges in compound stimulation; secondly, to explore whether there exists aesthetic preference for distinctive objects’ behaviours; and lastly, to test whether there exists aesthetic preference for specific combinations of objects' structures and behaviours. The following variables were systematically manipulated: 1) IOs’ contour (rounded vs. angular); 2) IOs’ size (small vs. large); 3) IOs’ surface texture (rough vs. smooth); and 4) IOs’ behaviour (Lighting, Sounding, Vibrating, and Quiescent). Results show that behaviour was the dominant factor: it influenced aesthetics more than any other characteristic; Vibrating IOs were preferred over Lighting and Sounding IOs, supporting the importance of haptic processing in aesthetics. Results did not confirm the size and smoothness effects previously reported in vision and touch respectively, which suggests that for the aesthetics preference that emerges in isolated conditions may be different in compound stimulation. Finally, results corroborate the smooth curvature effect

Becoming-with response-ability: How does diffracting posthuman ontologies with multi-modal sensory ethnography spark a multiplying femifesta/manifesta of noticing, attentiveness and doings in relation to mundane politics and more-than-human pedagogies of response-ability?

Our collective, sensorial, cartographic storying of becoming-response-able traces our noticing, attentiveness and doings with everyday materialities. We take four objects as a provocation for knowledge-ing with sensorial ethnographic assemblages that includes spaghetti, carpet, a toilet stall and a pair of binoculars. Through diffracting ideas of multimodality with posthuman ontologies, we experiment with sensory more-than-human intra-activities. We share our embodied encounters and experiments with materiality and the discourses that shape it through the lens of mundane politics. We hope to offer alternative ways of thinking with and doing research in educational contexts and explore how these sensory thinking-doing-feelings have repositioned our attentiveness and future orientation to a multiplying femifesta/manifesta of everyday noticing, doings and becoming-with pedagogies of response-ability

Manipulation of Pre-Target Activity on the Right Frontal Eye Field Enhances Conscious Visual Perception in Humans

The right Frontal Eye Field (FEF) is a region of the human brain, which has been consistently involved in visuo-spatial attention and access to consciousness. Nonetheless, the extent of this cortical site’s ability to influence specific aspects of visual performance remains debated. We hereby manipulated pre-target activity on the right FEF and explored its influence on the detection and categorization of low-contrast near-threshold visual stimuli. Our data show that pre-target frontal neurostimulation has the potential when used alone to induce enhancements of conscious visual detection. More interestingly, when FEF stimulation was combined with visuo-spatial cues, improvements remained present only for trials in which the cue correctly predicted the location of the subsequent target. Our data provide evidence for the causal role of the right FEF pre-target activity in the modulation of human conscious vision and reveal the dependence of such neurostimulatory effects on the state of activity set up by cue validity in the dorsal attentional orienting network

Sensitisation of cancer cells to radiotherapy by serine and glycine starvation

Background: Cellular metabolism is an integral component of cellular adaptation to stress, playing a pivotal role in the resistance of cancer cells to various treatment modalities, including radiotherapy. In response to radiotherapy, cancer cells engage antioxidant and DNA repair mechanisms which mitigate and remove DNA damage, facilitating cancer cell survival. Given the reliance of these resistance mechanisms on amino acid metabolism, we hypothesised that controlling the exogenous availability of the non-essential amino acids serine and glycine would radiosensitise cancer cells. Methods: We exposed colorectal, breast and pancreatic cancer cell lines/organoids to radiation in vitro and in vivo in the presence and absence of exogenous serine and glycine. We performed phenotypic assays for DNA damage, cell cycle, ROS levels and cell death, combined with a high-resolution untargeted LCMS metabolomics and RNA-Seq. Results: Serine and glycine restriction sensitised a range of cancer cell lines, patient-derived organoids and syngeneic mouse tumour models to radiotherapy. Comprehensive metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis of central carbon metabolism revealed that amino acid restriction impacted not only antioxidant response and nucleotide synthesis but had a marked inhibitory effect on the TCA cycle. Conclusion: Dietary restriction of serine and glycine is a viable radio-sensitisation strategy in cancer

New approaches to the study of human brain networks underlying spatial attention and related processes

Cognitive processes, such as spatial attention, are thought to rely on extended networks in the human brain. Both clinical data from lesioned patients and fMRI data acquired when healthy subjects perform particular cognitive tasks typically implicate a wide expanse of potentially contributing areas, rather than just a single brain area. Conversely, evidence from more targeted interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or invasive microstimulation of the brain, or selective study of patients with highly focal brain damage, can sometimes indicate that a single brain area may make a key contribution to a particular cognitive process. But this in turn raises questions about how such a brain area may interface with other interconnected areas within a more extended network to support cognitive processes. Here, we provide a brief overview of new approaches that seek to characterise the causal role of particular brain areas within networks of several interacting areas, by measuring the effects of manipulations for a targeted area on function in remote interconnected areas. In human participants, these approaches include concurrent TMS-fMRI and TMS-EEG, as well as combination of the focal lesion method in selected patients with fMRI and/or EEG measures of the functional impact from the lesion on interconnected intact brain areas. Such approaches shed new light on how frontal cortex and parietal cortex modulate sensory areas in the service of attention and cognition, for the normal and damaged human brain